9.30.2014

EVENT ALERT: MED WEEK PHILADELPHIA NOW IN SESSION SEPT. 28 - OCTOBER 4, 2014 - BLACK BUSINESSES BE THERE OR BE OUT!

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

In a kick off event designed to
showcase the upcoming MEDWeek conference, the Black Professional
News publisher, Earl Harvey, in conjunction with the Enterprise
Center, brought together some of the key individuals and
organizations who have been instrumental in assisting aspiring Black
entrepreneurs in realizing their goal of business ownership and
success.The event, which was held Wednesday, September 25, was a prelude of the many options and opportunities available to those in the greater Philadelphia region, who are aspiring business owners, wannabe business owners, or those struggling to expand and grow their businesses.

MED Week is in its 30th year
of ensuring that Minority Owned Businesses receive their fair share
of the economic dollars, having originally started in 1984 in
Philadelphia, PA to address the disparities between mainstream, and
small Black owned businesses.

Harvey opened the evenings event with this statement: “We
are going back to the old school – doing business face to face –
as opposed to social media. Social media is okay for the youth. They
open their phones and say “Look, I have 4000 friends.” And I
say,

“You got 4,000 friends – you better
not need a kidney – on Facebook – you might find you don't have
any. So we're trying to re-establish good old
fashioned face-to-face communication. Here's my card; here's what I
do; how can I help you? And more importantly, how can you help me?”

Earl Harvey's enthusiasm and passion for Black owned businesses is unmistakable, and contagious: "Caterers and food servers are all Black
owned. I don't just talk it, I walk it. All the food services in
the house are Black owned tonight. Supporting Black owned businesses is
critical. Everybody is getting bailed out but the Black owned
businesses. Banks are getting bailed out; insurance is getting
bailed out; investment companies are getting bailed out; automakers
are getting bailed out. Nobody is bailing us out but us. So let's
be clear about that. As you go through your daily routines, be very
cognizant of who you have in your Black business network. Is your
doctor Black? Or a person of color? Your dentist, your attorneys,
your CPAs. I know most of us go to beauty parlors and barber shops –
that's fine; and funeral parlors that we know in the hood as well.
But there are cleaners and all kinds of technical support people;
people who repair computers. Be very aware of how you spend your
dollars, because you have the discretion to spend your dollars where
you want to spend them. And for those of us who don't qualify for
government contracts, or big business, we rely on little businesses
to keep ourselves going. And every time you spend a dollar in a
Black owned business, it circulates throughout the community, because
they employ people from the neighborhoods that other people don't.
And our business communities are loaded with people who don't look
like us and they don't hire people from the neighborhood. It's their
business, and they can do what they want to do; but we have the
choice as to whether we want to support that business or not with our
consumer dollars. If they're not representing us the way we want
them to, we can become owners, or we can go someplace else. So we
are asking you, when you make your conscious consumer decision, that
you consider finding businesses with people who look like you.
Sometime that may be a little hard to find; you may have to do a
little bit more work, go a little bit out of your neighborhood to
find them; but the important thing is to support your own businesses;
or those businesses that are supporting our communities as well.
That's very important.”

Earl Harvey continued: “We're in a
very interesting time in America. The economists are saying that the
recession is over for three years now. I didn't get that memo. I've
been looking for that email! While some portions of our consumer
market are thriving right now; and the people who have money are
making more money, the gap between those who have money and those who
don't is growing ever wider. So we have to be aware that while
they're saying good times are here, and the recession's over, we look
around our communities that have been decimated by unemployment,
businesses closing, still high crime, and we're asking where's our
lifeline, and when does the recession end for us?

Philadelphia Minority
Enterprise Development (MED) Week Planning Committee: Since
1983, the U.S. President has proclaimed a National MED (Minority
Enterprise Development) Week observance to recognize the outstanding
achievements of Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and to honor
those corporations and financial institutions that support minority
business development. Annual regional conferences and activities are
organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business
Development Agency (MBDA) in collaboration with the U.S. Small
Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Government Contracting
and Business Development.

The
MED Week celebration was started locally in Philadelphia in 1984 to
honor and promote minority owned businesses in the Philadelphia area.
The organizers of the first Med Week activities were Barbara Daniel
Cox, former Director of Mayor Wilson Goode's
Womens Commission and Bilal Abdul Qayyum, Assistant to the
Deputy Director of the City Commerce Department. This event was a
three day event with three workshops, concluding with an award
luncheon honoring minority owned businesses. Each year since the
first celebration, the MED Week Celebration has grown to a full week
of successful workshops and award luncheons with an ever growing
number of sponsors to promote the great accomplishments of minority
owned businesses.

The
Philadelphia MED Week Committee consists of corporations, local
colleges and universities, local and regional government agencies and
minority business owners that are committed to supporting
opportunities for minority businesses.

Earl
Harvey, Publisher of the Black Professional News, stated: "I think we're permanently in a recession, quiet as it's
kept. I read recently that the average woman owned business makes
about $25,000 to 30,000 a year. That means that those who have their
own small businesses, or micro businesses, are making enough money to
probably sustain themselves; but they're not making enough to hire
anybody. And job creation is critical when you talk about
entrepeneurship and small business development. How are we growing
our businesses to scale – to the point that we can not only earn
more money, but hire other people? There are a lot of people out
here who do lend money, we just need to learn how to develop access
to capital, and how to put ourselves in positions to borrow money.
We also have people here who can help you get your credit together so
that you can borrow money. It is a process; they're not giving the
money away. They are loaning the money at different rates, and
through different processes. So it's not as intense as going into a
bank."

Angela
Dowd-Burton, Executive Director of the City of Philadelphia's Office
of Economic Opportunity: “The Philadelphia MED Week is a
celebration of those with entrepreneurial spirits who have dedicated
their lives to building businesses and putting people to work, and
contributing to the economic eco systems of our region. 2014 is the
30th anniversary of MEDWeek and we celebrate the business
owners who have stood the test of time as well as the entrepreneurs
who are just beginning. The Philadelphia region has an abundance of
advocates to give technical support, ancillary resources, and access
to contracts to help you succeed. Mayor Michael Nutter and his team,
City Council President Darryl Clark and his team, Councilman Oh,
Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown, all of whom were instrumental
in making this even happen. Drexel University, Goldman Sachs, Market
Place Philadelphia, Philadelphia Convention Center, U of Penn, Septa,
Barnes Foundation, among others. Co-sponsors of MEDWeek include the
African American Chamber; the Asian American Chamber, the Hispanic
Chamber of commerce, National Urban League, they are the leadership
team of over twenty sponsors who stand for you and your success."

The Mayor's Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO)
reported that for FY 2013, minority/women/disabled owned (MWBDE)
businesses were awarded $244 million in city business contracts,
which represented 28% city and public contracts. Thus far, in FY 2014 MWBDE's have won $255 million
in city business. According to Angela Dowd-Burton, the certified
businesses is currently 2,260, and increase from 2,175 in FY 2013.
Such a small increase in less than 100 certifications indicates a
need to do more in recruiting and assisting minority businesses in
their quest to do business with the city and the increasing numbers
of construction and other businesses now coming into the Philadelphia
region.

Mayor Nutter has set a goal of 30 percent MWBDE's participation in upcoming contracts and business opportunities, during the next fiscal year, which began July 1. It is hoped that the upcoming MEDWeek activities
will be the catalyst to increasing significantly the numbers of qualified certified
Black owned businesses receiving lucrative contracts, technical
assistance, micro-loans and other assistance necessary to participate
in this upcoming boom.

In early March of this year, Goldman Sachs
announced an initial $15 million investment in Philly-based small
businesses, with $10 million for loans and $5 million for a
business-education program at Comminity College of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation
(PIDC), under current president John Grady, has, thus far, provided
$4 million in loans to thirteen local businesses. The biz-education
program typically includes 100 hours of study over a period of twelve
weeks. The target audience is small businesses with at least four
employees; revenues of $150,000 over the past year; in existence and
fully operating for at least two years; and located in Philadelphia.
They have graduated 110 small business owners so far. In a city, where the majority population of
African Americans is 68%, the number of Black owned Businesses is
relatively small, according to Dowd-Burton and Harvey. In the OEO
2013 Annual Report, it shows that there aren't enough Black Owned
business trying out for certification, or applying for the funds that
are available to help them grow and sustain their businesses. Over
$200 million in contract opportunities are missed as a result. MED
Week is an attempt to make these opportunities available. Workshops
will be held in convenient locations over the next week, free of
charge, in hopes that they will attract those who have, heretofore,
not taken advantage of these options. For more information, visit
http://www.phila.gov/commerce,
or call 215-683-2057.

Below is an excerpt from the article on MED Week appearing in the Tribune:

Minority
Enterprise Development marks 30th anniversary

The 30th anniversary of Philadelphia Minority
Enterprise Development Week (Sept. 28-Oct. 4) will focus on the
growth of minority-owned businesses. This year’s MED Week will kick off Sunday
with an event at City Hall, and run through next Saturday in
venues around the city. This year’s theme is “Breakthrough:
Growth Through Innovation.” The week-long celebration features
free technical assistance workshops and supplier diversity
events with universities, nonprofits, for-profit and government
agencies.

Festivities begin Monday from 8 a.m. to noon
with an honors and awards program at Conversation Hall in City
Hall. The program will feature a panel discussion with Goldman
Sachs 10,000 Small Business Scholars.

For a schedule of MED Week events visit its
website
or call (215) 683-2057. The event was started in 1984 to honor
and promote minority-owned businesses in the Philadelphia area.

MED Week is chaired by the African American
Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware,
the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia,
the Philadelphia Commerce Department, the Greater Philadelphia
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Minority Business
Development Agency.

“The 2014 MED Week celebration marks a
major milestone for the minority business community,” said
Angela Dowd-Burton, executive director of the Office of Economic
Opportunity. “In the future, I hope business owners reflect on
2014 as the year they began to fully appreciate the power of
knowledge, networking and navigating the business process. Their
collaboration and commitment to excellence is the key to
building the capacity that will be required in the expanding
public, private and nonprofit sectors.”

While progress has been made, organizers said
continuous efforts are needed around minority business
development.

A recent study released by ENGAGE, a
student-run think tank at the University of Pennsylvania,
analyzed factors contributing to Philadelphia’s poverty rate.
The study indicated that a shift in growing industries required
more highly skilled, college-educated workers, not
characteristic of many Philadelphia minorities. Because of this
and other factors, “necessity entrepreneurs” were created.
Today, these businesses account for more than 70 percent of the
small businesses in the region and are considered non-employers,
who do not hire.

“This is one of the major initiatives that
the African American Chamber of Commerce and other business
leaders (are) looking into changing in the coming year,” said
Shalimar Thomas, executive director of the Chamber. “Through
fact-based research, we want to identify factors that contribute
to this and start taking appropriate steps to change
non-employers, to employers. Especially since we believe some of
the jobs in these industries may be able to employ low-skilled
or technically trained employees.”MED Week organizers are seeking to connect
minority-owned firms with contracts.“Our economy is experiencing rapid growth.
Buildings are being erected and renovated, healthcare is
expanding, our financial system is stable and the stock market
indexes are at all-time highs,” said James Sanders, senior
director of the Minority Business Development Agency Business
Center Pennsylvania. “Philly is ranked third in construction
growth across the U.S.A. Hospitality and tourism on the rise,
along with the expansion of bridges, highways, ports, rail
system, and airport. I encourage minority enterprises and others
to connect and do business by attending the 30th anniversary of
Philadelphia MED Week.”

Varsovia Fernandez, president and CEO of the
Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, noted that
there are more than 3.1 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the
U.S. which will contribute a combined $468 billion to the
American economy this year.

“With the Hispanic population growing
faster than any other market segment in the Philadelphia region,
as well as being a highly entrepreneurial segment, the impact
that Hispanic and minority-owned businesses contribute to our
economy cannot be understated. The Greater Philadelphia Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce proudly encourages all business owners and
stakeholders to join us for MED Week and enjoy the opportunity
to network and benefit from the highly beneficial week of
business events,” Fernandez said. ###Again, kudos to the Black Professional News for keeping what's important before the eyes and ears of Philadelphia. Now that you know, what are you going to do about it?Stay Blessed &ECLECTICALLY BLACK Gloria Dulan-Wilson